The Kerala High Court on August 13, granted anticipatory bail to the former police and Intelligence Bureau officials who were arraigned as accused in the ISRO frame-up case.
Allowing the plea of P.S. Jayaprakash, Thampi S. Durga Dutt, Vijayan and R.B Sreekumar, Justice Asok Menon held that the accused “should not be made to face a similar situation of being forced to undergo the ignominy of being incarcerated in the prison for interrogation at this old age after their retirement for an incident that took place a quarter of the century ago.”
The court noted that there was no “indication or material, apart from the rhetoric that a foreign power has a hand in persuading the petitioners,” to implicate the ISRO scientists in the case.
Matter of evidence
There was “not even a scintilla of evidence regarding the petitioners being influenced by any foreign power so as to induce them to hatch a conspiracy to falsely implicate the scientists” with the intention to stall the activities of the ISRO regarding the development of cryogenic engine. Unless there are specific materials regarding their involvement, prima facie, it cannot be said that the officials were acting against the interest of the country, the court noted.
The police officials have been called upon to answer an accusation made against them for an act, which they had allegedly committed more than a quarter of a century ago, the judge noted.
18 accused
Incidentally, the CBI had arraigned 18 people, including the petitioners, as accused in the ISRO frame-up case after a Supreme Court-appointed Jain Committee found fault with them for booking cases against the scientists.
The committee also found that some of the accused were involved in the deliberate leaking of the information to the media and press to create a narrative implicating the scientists and to arrest them without any material on record to show their involvement in the espionage.
These incidents and the consequent torture of the Nambi Narayanan and K. Chandrasekharan in police custody required a detailed investigation, the committee felt.
If arrested, the accused shall be released on bail on the execution if ₹1 lakh each with two solvent sureties for the same amount, the court ordered.